


Life these days

by A (AILiSeki)



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
Genre: AU where the Baudelaire parents didn’t die, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fictober 2019, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 03:11:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20959493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AILiSeki/pseuds/A
Summary: Things were not the same after they left home.





	Life these days

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober 2019 Day 4
> 
> “I know you didn’t ask for this.”

Violet felt tired, but she couldn’t sleep. Sleep has been hard since they started living there. There was this tension in the air that she couldn’t explain, so even though most days were calm and uneventful, she couldn’t help but feel like something bad was about to happen. 

It would be better if their parents stayed around for longer. Every time they left there was no telling when they would be back, and they rarely sent any news. Though, even on days like today, when they were there, Violet still worried because they could leave at any moment.

She heard footsteps on the corridor and wondered if she should turn off her light. She didn’t want Klaus to worry about her, because he already had enough as it was. But it could also be one of her parents or uncle Monty, and while she didn’t want them to worry either, part of her maybe wanted it.

Part of her believed that maybe if she asked it, this strange routine would stop, and her family would go back home and everything would go back to normal.

“Violet?” Her mother called in a low voice. “Are you awake?”

Too late to turn off the light.

“Y-yes.”

“May I come in?”

“Yes.”

Violet’s mother entered the room. Violet noticed she wasn’t in her sleeping clothes.

“Is something wrong?” The Baudelaire mother asked.

“No. I just had an idea for an invention.” Violet lied.

It wasn’t a very good life. The clean working bench and the blank sheets on the wall showed she hadn’t been inventing much lately.

“Is something wrong, mother? Why aren’t you sleeping?” She asked before her mother could ask more.

Her mother hesitated, the same way she and her father did every time one of the children asked a question these days.

Things didn’t use to be like this. Their parents used to be honest with them, or at least so they thought.

Just like they didn’t use to try to exclude them from the conversations they had with other adults.

“I just wanted to check on you and your siblings.”

Violet smiled. She missed her mother and her father so much when they weren’t around.

“You should get some rest. The trip must have been tiring.”

“It’s not that long of a trip when your father is driving.”

They shared a short giggle. Her mother just shouldn’t be allowed to drive out of town.

Violet yawned.

“Was your day tiring?” Her mother asked.

It was, and not because there was so much to do in uncle Monty’s house. It was because of all those unanswered questions.

Why couldn’t they go home? Why did their parents leave so often? What were they hiding? Why was a picture of the whole family in the missing people section of the newspaper?

“Just a bit.”

Klaus was the first to voice the thought all three of them had. Whatever their parents were doing when they left, it must be dangerous. That’s why they never took the children with them. That’s why they stayed with their uncle in the countryside.

Violet just couldn’t imagine what it could be. At night her mind went back to the monsters she used to believe to be under her bed, or the gangsters from books she read.

Her mother got her pajamas from the wardrobe and helped her into them. Then she tucked her in, just like when she was a little girl, and kissed her forehead.

Violet closed her eyes and kept still. She knew she had no chance of helping fighting whatever her parents were fighting, and it hurt so much. She wanted to do something.

She and Klaus read the newspaper every day, looking for clues, but nothing seemed out of usual in the City. She was afraid to imagine what would happen if this danger found them, or worse.

What if their parents didn’t win this fight?

“I’m sorry.” Her mother whispered, probably believing she was asleep. “I know you didn’t ask for this. But we need you to be strong for a little longer. Just a little longer.”

She turned off the light and closed the door.

**Author's Note:**

> So in this AU what happened was that the day TBB begins, the Baudelaire parents went with the children to the beach and then were just like “oh and we won’t be going back home ever”. I nicknamed it The Baudelaire Parents Live And Keep The Children In The Dark Longer AU. 
> 
> Actually I just needed a reason to have Beatrice and Violet talking in a canon divergent setting to have a conversation that ended up not happening. I think this is more in character for Bea and Bert though.


End file.
